Projectile.



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C. M. RICHARDSON.'

PROJECTILE.

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PROIECTILE. APPL'lcmon meu FEB. s.. m1. Patented Jim. 21, 1919.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE. f

CHARLES M. RICHARDSON, OF NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO CHARLES W. DWY, OF UNION CITY, CONNECTICUT.

PROJECTILE.

Application filed February 9, 1917.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES M. RICHARD- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Naugatuck, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Projectiles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ammunition, and more especially to projectiles; and the o ject of the same is to produce a shell which fires a'charge of bullets or the like axially from its body to fracture its parts and scatter them in all directions before it explodes. The invention also contemplates the provision of means whereby the shell will automatically change its course within its trajectory so that the charge of bullets may be fired downward upon a body of men who may be intren-ched, and the explosion of the shell will occur later.

The invention also contemplates the eine ployment of means for changing the center of gravity of the shell while in flight and preferably at the highest point of its trajectory, and causing it to turn its muzzle downward so as to reach its objective from a point more nearly above than if it followed its normal course.

These and other objects are carried out by constructing the projectile in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a general side elevation showing one of these shells as being shot from a gun and indicating its normal trajectory, and showing diagrammatically also how it may change its course and turn downward by reason of the improvements it possesses.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the projectile.

Fig. 3 is a detail of a spring which may be used for impelling the weight forwardly, in order to change the center of gravity of the projectile, and

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views of the barrel portion of the projectile showing the action of this spring.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic section showing how its spherical weight could be used,l

and

. Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective details of other forms of weights.

The projectile forming the subject-matter the present invention is a combined shell Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

serial No. 147,647.

and gun, the latter firing a charge of bullets or the like and the former then"eXploding and doing its work by the scattering of its fragments. The shell may be of any desired material and preferred dimensions, and comprises a cylindrical body l with its front end preferably tapered as at 2 and its rear end 3 closed by an annular wall in which is seated a plug 4 having a time fuse 5 for discharging the charge of explosive indicafted by 7 in Fig. 2 when the projectile has reached the desired distance from. the gun. The latter is indicated. by the letter Gr n Fi l, which view shows several projectiles f) in flight, one lettered P having followed its normal course T, and another having been automatically deflected therefrom by means which will be hereinafter' set forth. Around the rear end of the body 1 may be and preferably is formed a band 6 which fits into the rilies within the bore of the gun G lif the metal be soft., or may itself be formed with threads to engage said rifles if the metal be hard. It is possible to embed missiles within the charge 7 of powder or other explosive, as seen at 8, although the fragments of the shell body will ordinarily do suflioient damage when this charge explodes.

The numeral l0 designates a long tube or barrel closely fitting in the smaller extremity of the tapered end 2 of the shell and extending along the axis thereof to a point flush with the rear end 3 of the shell where it is closely fitted within such endl, and let is a breech plug in the rear end or base of this tube or barrel having one or more time fuses 15 extending through it. These lead into a chamber in the barrel containing a charge 16, of explosive such as powder. Forward of the charge is a wad 17 constituting a gas check, forward of the wad in turn is a charge 18 of bullets or the like, and forward of this charge lin turn is a second wad 19.

With so much of my invention as has thus far been described, it is quite obvious that by timing the fuses 5 and 15 properly the charge 16 can be fired to drive the bullets out of the barrel before the charge 6 is exploded to shatter the shell. The latter explosion is ordinanily timed to occur ust about the time the shell strikes the ground, and therefore `the bullets would be fired a little earlier; but in order that they may not be fired in such a direction as would cause Now when the their wastage, I have made use of the fol.- lowing details which constitute an important feature of the present invention.

The tube or barrel 10 is about twice as long as the shell, and its projecting front portion is empty beyond a point about even with the front end of the shell so that as the latter is projected point first through the air, the tip of the barrel precedes the body of the shell as illustrated in Fig. 1. The projectile is maintained in this position during its flight by the rifling referred to. Within the barrel 10 forward of the front wad 19 I place a weight which in Fig. 2 is shown as a loose charge o-f bullets 28, and I close the front extremity of the barrel by a cap 27. projectile is fired from a gun G which is raised to suitable elevation as shown, during its iight it reaches a position at the top of its trajectory where its axis is normally horizontal, and at this time the loose bullets constituting the weight roll forward in the empty front portion of the barrel and tilt or deflect the projectile from its course, as seen at B2, finally turning it downward as seen at B3. Just at this time the charge 16 is fired by its fuse and the bullets 18 and 28 are driven out of the barrel, carrying the cap 27 in front of them and causing great damage to whatever is beneath the descending shell. Later the latter bursts as usual. This is an important feature of my invention, 'and it will be seen that it causes the shell to automatically deviate from its normal trajectory T and turn downward, this action being brought about by the movement of the round bullets composing the weight.

It may be that the loose bullets become clogged or stuck in place, or that in partaking of the momentum of the shell and the whirling action thereof due to the riiiing they do not roll forward automatically to change the center of gravity and therefore alter the course of the shell as desired. In order to overcome this contingency it is quite possible to insert a small charge of explosive 26 in front of the forward wad 19 and a disk or a thin wad 25 in front of this small charge vand between it and the loose bullets 28, and this auxiliary charge may be fired by means of a fuse 28 led through a plug 24 which is tapped laterally through the shell and the wall of the barrel about as seen in Fig. 2.

If this addition is employed, the fuse 23 will be cut to such length as to explode when the shell is at-its extreme highest point. The result of this explosion will be to scatter the loose bullets 28, within the barrel. with the result that the shell will be deflected from its trajectory as above described because the center of gravity has been altered. I would not have the charge 26 large enough to force the bullets 28 forward and drive oft' the cap 27. The latter might be perforated as shown, and

should be secured to the front of the barrel in such manner that when the charge 1 6 is fired the bullets 18 and 28 will all be driven forward out of the barrel and the cap will be carried along with them. It is quite obvious that the shape of the bullets 18 and of the missiles possibly embedded within the explosive eharge 6 is immaterial, but I prefer that the loose bullets 28 shall be round so that they will constitute a rolling or movable weight within the tube or barrel 10.

Although I have shown and described the use of a small or auxiliary charge 26 of explosive for impelling the weight forwardly, when the latter is in the form of loose bullets as shown at 28 they may not require any impelling means whatsoever; and if the charge of powder is omitted the cap 27 need not be perforated as the perforations are to permit the escape of the gases generated by the explosion. While theoretically the momentum of the projectile would hold the loose bullets against the front wad 19, even when the projectile reached the top of the trajectory and assumed a horizontal position, it may be that the rotation of the shell due to the rifling and the centrifugal tendency thereby set up in the charge of loose bullets will cause them to scatter without any other impelling means and roll forward within the barrel at leastto a sufficient extent to change the course of the shell. Therefore I do not wish to be limited always to the use of an impelling charge or device. The latter may, also, not always be a charge which is exploded, and this thought is carried out in the remaining views of the drawings and will be described below.

In Fig. 3 is shown a light coiled expansive spring 36, expanded in this view and pushing forward a wad 35. In Fig. 4 this spring is shown in compressed condition between the wad 19 and its own wad 35, the weight of the charge of loose bullets 28 causing this compression because I intend that such weight shall be greater than the force of the spring. This is the condition of parts when the shell stands upright yor inclined ready to be shot from the cannon Gr. In Fig. 5 the parts are shown at about the top of the trajectory T, where the barrel stands substantially horizontal and now when the weight of the bullets 28 is taken 0H the spring the -latter expands and slides its wad 35, and the bullets forward so as to change the center of gravity as above described. In this case, as there is no explosion and therefore no gases, the cap 37 need not be perforated.

In Fig. 6 I have shown the use of the same impeller or light spring as used with a spherical or rolling weight 40 which also should be heavy enough to overcome the light spring 86. This weight is shown as cylindrical or pluglike at 41 in Fig. 7, yet

lUZ. AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVE DEVICES small enough to slide freely within the barrel 10. In Fig. 8 I have shown another form of plug, 42, whose periphery is cut away so as to leave only narrow angles or corners 43 contacting withthe inner face of the barrel and therefore setting up very little friction to resist its easy sliding movement therein. In all cases where the weight is entirely loose within the barrel, whether it be a single member or a charge of loose bullets as at 28 it will of course move when the shell is handled and may not be at its proper position at the time the shell is inserted into the gun; but as soon as the gun is inclined as seen at the left in Fig. 1, the weight slides or rolls backward into its proper relative position with respect to the impeller, and the projectile is ready to be "'shot. In some ways an impeller embodying spring action may be preferable to one employing an explosive, and I reserve the broadest latitude in this respect.

What is claimed as new 1s: 1. The herein descrlbed projectile comprising a casing, an explosive charge so dis- 'posed within the casing as to bring its center of gravity toward the rear end thereof, and a Weight freely movable longitudinally within the front end of the casing and of a size to alter the center of gravity of the entire projectile when the weight itself moves forward. v

2. The herein described projectile comprising a long tubular casing, an explosive charge and missiles at rear portion thereof, a time fuse for said charge, and a rolling weight loose in the front portion of said casing and adapted to move therein to alter the line of flight when the projectile reaches a high point in its trajectory.

3. The herein described projectile comprising a long tubular casing, an explosive charge and missiles at the rear portion thereof, a time fuse for said charge, a movable weight mounted loosely within said casing forward of the charge, and means in the casing between the weight and charge and adapted to impel such weight forwardly when the casing stands substantially ho-rizontal, for the purpose set forth.

4:. The herein described projectile comprising a long tubular casing, an explosive charge and missiles at the rear portion thereof, a time fuse for said charge, a movable weight within the casing forward of said charge, and yielding impelling means between the weight and charge compressed when the projectile stands upright or oblique but automatically expanding when the projectile stands on a substantially horizontal axis and impelling the weight forwardly, for the purpose set forth.

5. The herein described shell comprising a casing, an explosive charge therein, a time fuse for said charge, a tube extending axially Git-itl till liUUl-il through the charge and throughout the length of the casing and beyond its forward end, and a movable weight in said tube for changing the center of gravity of the projectile during its flight, j

6. The herein described shell comprising a casing, an explosive charge therein, a time fuse for said charge, a barrel extending alongthe axis of the casing and beyond its point, a charge of explosive within said barrel, a fuse for said charge, a charge of projectiles within the barrel forward of such charge of explosive, and means forward of said projectiles movably mounted within the barrel for changing the center of gravity of the entire projectile while in flight.

7 The herein described shell comprising a shell casing tapered at its front end, an annular closure in its rear end, a time fuse through such closure, a tubular barrel fitted through the front end of the casing and extending beyond it and fitted also within said closure, a plug in the rear end 0f the barrel, a time fuse through said plug, a charge of explosive within the shell around the barrel, a second charge within the rear end of the barrel, a wad forward of the latter charge, a charge of missiles forward of the wad,`,a second wad forward of the missiles, a charge of loose bullets forward of the second wad, and a cap over the front end of the barrel.

8. The herein described shell comprising `a shell casing with its explosive charge and viecting it from such course.

9. The herein described shell comprising a shell casing with its explosive charge and missiles embedded therein, means for exploding this charge, a barrel extending throughout the length and beyond one end of the casing and containing a separate explosive charge and bullets, a fuse adapted to be timed to fire this charge in advance of the explosion of the shell charge, a movable weight within the projecting portion of the barrel, and means for moving it therein during the flight of the projectile, for the purpose set forth.

10. The herein described shell comprising a casing, a tubular barrel extending throughout the length thereof and beyond its front end, a firing charge and missiles in the rear end of the casing around lthe barrel, an explosive charge within the rear end of the arrel, separate time fuses for these charges, a weak coiled expansive spring within the 130 barrel forward of the charge therein and a movable weight within the barrel forward of the sprlng and having sufiicient weight to compress4 said spring when the exis of the shell is other than horizontal.

11.. The herein described shell comprising a easmg, a tubular barrel extending throughout the length thereof and beyond its front end, a. firing charge and missiles in the rear end of the barrel, an explosive charge Within the" rear end of the casing around the barrel,

seperate time fuses for these eharges, a wad in the barrel forward of its charge, a. second wad therein forward of the first, a, weak coiled expansive spring between the Weds 15 and a, rolling Weight in the barrel between the Weds and of a weight to overcome and compress the spring when the shell stands with its axis vertical or inclined.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

CHARLES M. RICHARDSON.

copie: cat tlm4 patent may .be obtained tot ive cents elch, by addressing the Commissioner ot htentl. Washington. IME. 

